| Abstrakt: |
The dwindling amount of Security Category I processing and storage space across the DOE Complex has driven the need for more effective storage of nuclear materials at LANL's Plutonium Facility's (PF-4's) vault. An effort was begun in 2009 to create a strategy, a roadmap, to identify all accountable nuclear material and determine their disposition paths, the PF-4 Actinide Disposition Strategy (PADS). Approximately seventy bins of nuclear materials with similar characteristics—in terms of isotope, chemical form, impurities, disposition location, etc.—were established in a database. The ultimate disposition paths include the material to remain at LANL, disposition to other DOE sites, and disposition to waste. If all the actions described in the document were taken, over half of the containers currently in the PF-4 vault would have been eliminated. The actual amount of projected vault space will depend on available budget and competing mission requirements, however, clearly a significant portion of the current LANL inventory can be either dispositioned or consolidated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
